Martial Arts

Tranhumanist ideas have brought about many different types of bodies. As a result, hand to hand combat would need to become very diverse. Here are some proposed names for unarmed combat styles for various morphs.

This is a work in progress, please correct me on any mistranslations or inconsistencies

Any help would be appreciated, especially concerning the Hebrew translation and the selection of languages. For example, if neo-octopus do not speak Japanese, or if boxing isn't plausible in uplift exoskeletons, correct me and I will fix it.

I don't think you really need to worry about Neo-Octopi not speaking Japanese. Uplifts are part of the transhuman family and just as capable of having learned a given language as any other transhuman. Plus I doubt there will be a lack of people that just like Japanese culture.

That said, I really approve of this idea. I imagine Scurrier and Octopus martial arts would likely make use of their extra limbs in the form of blocks or grapples for added defense while not sacrificing much in the way of offense. Think the old bully tactic of having someone hold a guy while another person beats the crap out of them, but completely solo. Alternatively, for uplifts and alien morphs of all types I could see forms of martial arts that encourage falling back on instinctual fighting styles, fighting the way a wild animal would but with the strategy of a transhuman mind nudging it when need be.

Even more than bodies, environment will dictate the diversification of martial arts. While full Earth gravity is a rarity now, martial arts practiced on Mars and Venus will probably at least resemble traditional styles. In microgravity, traditional punches lose most of their effect; you can't build a kinetic chain against the ground, unless you are near a surface, and even then not only do you have far more vectors that the punch may have to go, it will also propel you and the opponent away from each other. Impact techniques would then likely consist of people clinging to their opponent to set up knee and elbow strikes. Also, wrestling techniques, joint locks and attacks to vulnerable points (i.e. eye gouges) would probably dominate, as you can execute them while flying through the air (or vacuum). Throws, again, would, in the absence of gravity, lose much of their impact.

Aside from rather specialized people, I'd expect martial arts in general to become even more of a category of sports than they are already today. When combat adopted ballistic weapons as the baseline, martial arts decline, and Eclipse Phase has moved on to increasingly complex technological weapon systems, and electronic warfare.

In microgravity, traditional punches lose most of their effect; you can't build a kinetic chain against the ground, unless you are near a surface, and even then not only do you have far more vectors that the punch may have to go, it will also propel you and the opponent away from each other. Impact techniques would then likely consist of people clinging to their opponent to set up knee and elbow strikes. Also, wrestling techniques, joint locks and attacks to vulnerable points (i.e. eye gouges) would probably dominate, as you can execute them while flying through the air (or vacuum). Throws, again, would, in the absence of gravity, lose much of their impact.

I agree, you make some good points.

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Picture of Fire taken under CC0 license. (That's the correct syntax, right?)

How do Martial Arts change when your opponent may or may not be a synth? For example, how might you need to modify an elbow lock if your opponent's joints have a much higher degree of freedom than a human elbow would?

I'm now thinking that an Arachnomech fighting pit could be a nice set-piece battle for a mission on a scum barge. (or even just Extropia or some ex-human colony)

I'm pretty sure martial arts tend to exploit the mechanics of the body of the user and their target, some more specifically that others. The most obvious example would be joint locks and throws that use leverage against a foe for mechanical advantage. If there are extreme difference in the body of either individual, you're looking at problems (joint locking an octomorph is a recipe for failure). Even basic strikes try to maximize force through exploiting certain structures in the body and tend to make assumptions based on local gravity. Martial arts for exotic morphs and microgravity will probably involve reinventing the wheel most of the time.

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All martial arts will most likely be tied to a specific morph body plan. It would work with similar morphs no problem, so humanoid martial arts should be doable with humanoid biomorphs, humanoid pods, humanoid synths, etc. (some might be more specific, like needing prehensile feet), but an octomorph martial art would would need a neo octopus, tako, or flying squid.

Strikes would generally be affected by local gravity (or whether you can plant yourself firmly or not, so mods that keep you grounded while punching might help this). Freefall strikes would be very different than strikes meant to be done in gravity. They would be less likely to be impacted by the morph you are fighting, but how they can parry and what weak points you should target can be different (also, strikes against a synth might be more likely to break your hand if you strike wrong). Obviously, the presence of innate weapons, like claws and teeth could open up other unique strikes.

Grabs, locks, and other wrestling techniques may be extremely target specific. If joints are in the wrong place, limbs bend differently, or there are a few extra limbs things things get tricky. Freefall vs low gravity vs higher gravity may be less significant, though not necessarily insignificant, as you can't rely on your weight to keep you planted.

Throws may be target and gravity reliant since it exploits leverage like a grapple, and your stability.

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Because of all these complexities, newer and rarer exotic morphs, especially noncombat morphs, may not have many well developed martial arts. Martial arts will often be focused on a specific environment (for strike-heavy martial arts like boxing) or target morphs (for grapple-heavy arts like wrestling). Popular martial arts may have supplemental techniques or forms to expand their applicability in terms of user morph, environment, or target, but these might be radically different, arguably approaching an entirely new martial art.

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So when making a martial art, consider the following:

What are the requirements for the practitioner's morph?

Is the form particularly focused on strikes, grapples, etc.?

What sorts of target morphs does the art specialize in fighting (if applicable)?